The inflatable curtain airbag is a special airbag, which is arranged at the upper side rim of the interior roof structure of the vehicle. The purpose of the inflatable curtain is especially the protection of the occupant in case of a side impact and to prevent the occupant from hitting onto the interior side structure or from moving out of an open window.
The inflatable curtain airbag itself may have a length in length direction of the vehicle from 1.00 m to more than 2.5 m. In the inflated status the curtain airbag extends downwards from the roof structure up to an upper rim of the door structure. The curtain airbag is rolled or folded to a tube and mounted under the roof lining together with a gas generator which inflates the curtain airbag by generating a certain gas flow within a short time when activated.
One general problem of curtain airbags to be solved is that the curtain airbag must not be twisted when being mounted at the vehicle structure. To prevent the twisting of the curtain airbag it is known from the US 2005/0057023 A1 to provide the curtain airbag with at least one stiffening member. The stiffening member is made of a plastic beam which extends along at least a portion of the longitudinal length of the rolled or folded curtain airbag. The stiffening member itself is fixed to the curtain airbag via separate attachment tabs.